Nicole Pretre

President & Chief Executive Officer
Cedar Community
West Bend, WI
  • 23-J. Advancing Sustainability Efforts While Reinforcing Mission and Values

    • Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

    23-J. Advancing Sustainability Efforts While Reinforcing Mission and Values

    Cedar Community in West Bend, WI, is committed to protecting the environment and being a good neighbor in the communities where its five campuses are located. The organization backed up that commitment by giving the Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation 100 acres of land in a primary environmental corridor. This session will explore how Cedar Community’s efforts to promote ecological sustainability have affected its marketing, public relations, fundraising, and operations. Presenters will offer tips for addressing sustainability issues while planning new construction, repositioning, and renovation work. Discover how powerful storytelling about sustainable design can garner stakeholder support, improve marketing efforts, and elevate organizational mission.

Leticia Prieto Alvarez

Program Manager, Expressive Therapies and Brain Health Initiatives
Hebrew SeniorLife
Boston, MA
  • 104-C. Empowering Residents through Community Forums

    • Sunday, October 27, 2024

    4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

    104-C. Empowering Residents through Community Forums

    Residents who don’t have feelings of empowerment, agency, and purpose may have difficulty thriving in their senior living community. Engaging older adults and their families in open dialogue about what matters most to them can help. This session will explore the benefits of resident and family engagement, which allows aging services providers to hear everyone’s ideas, brainstorm solutions, and implement changes based on suggestions. Presenters will share strategies for developing three engagement opportunities: community councils for the general resident population, community forums for residents with varying cognitive abilities, and family forums for residents’ loved ones. Find out how this engagement process can enhance resident satisfaction and demonstrate your commitment to resident well-being.

Kurt Rahner

VP of Information Technology
The Kendal Corporation
Newark, DE
  • 8-G. Advancing Aging Services: Embracing Generative AI and Large Language Models

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    8-G. Advancing Aging Services: Embracing Generative AI and Large Language Models

    Two out of five nonprofit executives responding to a recent Google survey admitted their organizations were not currently using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, even though they felt optimistic about the role these technologies could play in their organizations. What’s holding these executives back? They are simply unfamiliar with rapidly evolving technologies like Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLM). If a lack of familiarity keeps you from exploring AI, this session is for you. Presenters will share practical examples of how aging services organizations use AI and LLMs to increase administrative efficiency, streamline communications, enhance the resident experience, and support the workforce.

Mike Rambarose

President/CEO
Whitney Center, Inc.
Hamden, CT
  • 48-I. Renew your Organization by Evolving your Leadership Style

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    48-I. Renew your Organization by Evolving your Leadership Style

    Looking to build your organizational capacity and allow team members to seize opportunities and respond to uncertainty? Consider adjusting the traditional hierarchy and structure of your organization. Through a podcast-like interview format, this session will reveal the leadership journeys of aging services leaders who came to a new understanding of their roles as CEO. They’ll explain how they inspired senior team members to give up power so others could be empowered. Discover how team members respond to a less-traditional organizational structure and how a new leadership approach empowered and motivated the entire staff.

Kyle Rand

Co-Founder & CEO
Rendever
Somerville, MA
  • 10-I. Virtual Reality: Breaking Down Barriers Across the Continuum

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    10-I. Virtual Reality: Breaking Down Barriers Across the Continuum

    The National Institute on Aging’s THRIVE study demonstrates that virtual reality technology can decrease social isolation, build connections across physical distances, and improve holistic health for older adults. This session will explore the study’s finding that virtual reality technology can enhance quality of life by connecting older adults in senior living communities with family members. Presenters will also highlight two THRIVE pilot programs that use virtual reality technology to connect older adults living at home with their peers in senior living communities. Presenters will explain the potential these pilot programs hold for building relationships across the continuum and re-envisioning senior living sales by encouraging prospective residents to engage with current residents through daily programming.

Connie Rasmussen

Regional Director of Rehabilitation Services
Acts Retirement-Life Communities, Inc.
Fort Washington, PA
  • 108-F. Merge Fitness and Rehab for Optimal Resident Well-Being

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    108-F. Merge Fitness and Rehab for Optimal Resident Well-Being

    Rehabilitation services and fitness activities are often provided by separate departments of a life plan community. This session will present a different approach: merging fitness and rehabilitation services into a single department designed to ensure that residents receive early assessments of their fall and injury risks, use the right services at the right time, and spend more years enjoying optimal well-being. Presenters will show you how to develop a comprehensive wellness-based model for all levels of care by combining the skills of fitness and rehabilitation professionals. You’ll learn how to set formal expectations for a new Fitness-Rehabilitation Department and develop a business plan that addresses training needs, budgetary considerations, and marketing opportunities aimed at current and prospective residents.

Vic Rayner

Chair of the Global Ageing Network and CEO
National Care Forum
  • 4-D. International Perspectives on Technology and Innovation

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    4-D. International Perspectives on Technology and Innovation

    Populations around the globe are aging rapidly, and providers of aging services have much to learn from their colleagues in other countries as we all prepare for projected demographic shifts. During this session, the Global Ageing Network will bring together a diverse group of providers to discuss the future aging services in their respective countries with a particular focus on the role of technology. Hear how the global field of aging services is influenced by the evolving preferences of older persons and the capacity of governments to support needed initiatives. Discover how technology and business innovators are responding to global aging with creative solutions that promise to help build a better and more sustainable future for older adults across the globe.

  • 141-E. The Future of Aging in the United Kingdom

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    141-E. The Future of Aging in the United Kingdom

    The population of the United Kingdom (UK) is undergoing a massive age shift. By 2050, one in four British citizens will be over 65, causing many to wonder whether a financially secure and healthy later life is becoming increasingly unlikely for millions of people. This session will address these developments while focusing on innovations that could help the UK’s aging services sector achieve a different future. Hear about recent developments in the UK’s care sector, including a growing preference to age at home, significant expansion of small-scale home care providers, and a diverse array of initiatives supporting independence and healthy aging. Consider how these innovations could be applied to other countries around the globe, including the United States.

Deb Reardanz

CEO/President
ClarkLindsey
Urbana, IL
  • 25-L. Retooling the Care Continuum to Create a Sustainable Future

    • Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

    25-L. Retooling the Care Continuum to Create a Sustainable Future

    Life plan communities are thinking in new ways about the care continuum as they carry out their missions in the face of overwhelming operational challenges. These communities no longer expect residents to progress in a linear fashion from one level of care to the next. Instead, they are creating an environment that allows residents to participate in the community’s life without ever living on campus or receiving long-term care in a dedicated skilled care environment. This session will unveil a new way of thinking about the continuum that blurs the lines between levels of living and care and ensures that care can be accessed and delivered in diverse ways and settings. Find out how your life plan community can help drive this change.

Daniel Reingold

President & Chief Executive Officer, River’s Edge
River’s Edge
Riverdale, NY
  • 72-L. Tapping For-Profit Expertise to Build for the Future

    • Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

    72-L. Tapping For-Profit Expertise to Build for the Future

    After several years of slower-than-desired progress in developing River’s Edge, New York City’s first life plan community, RiverSpring Living engaged Integrated Development II (ID2), a boutique senior living firm, to complete the project. Through this unique partnership, RiverSpring benefitted from ID2’s expertise without entering a formal joint venture relationship or relinquishing equity. The project is now on track to begin construction in late 2024. This session will describe how the River’s Edge project combined ID2’s entrepreneurial approach with RiverSpring Living’s nonprofit corporate structure, internal resources, and personnel. Presenters will help you understand how a nonprofit organization can work with a for-profit developer to create a winning partnership.

Luz Renteria

Resource Coordinator
Hartford HealthCare Senior Services
Southington, CT
  • 33-G. Feeling Heard and Respected: A Grassroot Approach to DEIB

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    33-G. Feeling Heard and Respected: A Grassroot Approach to DEIB

    Large organizations can make a significant impact when they take a grassroots approach to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) so everyone feels heard and respected. This session will focus on the DEIB work carried out by Hartford HealthCare (HCC), whose 41,000 employees provide healthcare services in nearly 500 locations throughout Connecticut. Presenters will explain how the promotion of DEIB has become a shared mission for all of HHC’s many departments, including its Center for Healthy Aging. Discover how large organizations can take a grassroots approach to promoting DEIB, the steps you can take to get started, and the keys to maintaining and measuring sustainable change.

Katie Rhone

Senior VP of HERO & Employee Experience
KARE
Houston, TX
  • 149-I. Strengthen Your Workforce with Trauma-Informed Care

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    149-I. Strengthen Your Workforce with Trauma-Informed Care

    When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services required providers of aging services to implement trauma-informed care in 2019, few organizations understood what this care entailed and why it was necessary. This session will clear up the confusion. Representatives of LeadingAge Gold Partner KARE will help you understand how childhood trauma affects the health and well-being of older adults and the people who care for them. Presenters will show you how to change your organization’s culture, improve frontline caregiver retention, and increase resident satisfaction by addressing employee and resident trauma. Learn how to integrate a knowledge of trauma into organizational policies, procedures, and practices that respect individual differences, trauma histories, and cultural backgrounds.

Aimee Riemke

Vice President, Marketing
Greencroft Communities
Goshen, IN
  • 65-G. Managing Tension Points: Strategic Planning in a Multisite System

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    65-G. Managing Tension Points: Strategic Planning in a Multisite System

    Strategic planning can be a complex undertaking for any aging services organization. But it is even more demanding for multisite and multistate organizations with matrix-based management systems. This session will present a case study of Greencroft Communities in Goshen, IN. This multisite organization developed a 10-year strategic vision to align all its campus teams around the same mission, vision, values, and strategic priorities. Presenters will focus on how a strategic planning process can effectively manage the tension points within matrix-based management systems and how leadership teams can engage and involve cross-disciplinary teams, campus boards, and the system board in balancing the needs and demands of the local campus communities with broader corporate priorities.